Men's Basketball Wins In First Round Of NCAA Tournament

Senior Tony Dennison had 26 points to lead all scorers. Photo by J.C. Ridley.

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark.—Propelled by senior Tony Dennison’s 24 points, nine rebounds, and three assists, the Barry men’s basketball team defeated the no. 13 Florida Southern Mocs 64-59 on Saturday in the first round of the NCAA DII South Region Tournament.

The win is the first NCAA Tournament victory in Barry men’s basketball history. Adding to the win, the Buccaneers took down a Florida Southern team with a total of 34 NCAA Tournament wins. The Barry win over the Mocs is the second in one week as the Bucs defeated Florida Southern in the semifinal of the SSC Tournament on March 6.

The first play out of the locker room in the second half, Trapp connected on a three from the left wing to give the Buccaneers a 35-32 lead. After that play Barry trailed only once in the second period at the 02:03 mark when Florida Southern’s Terry Jenkins converted on two free-throws to give the Mocs a 56-55 advantage. The next possession Dennison’s jumper off the glass from 12 feet recaptured the lead for Barry. The Bucs never surrendered the lead again going on for the win.

With 01:09 to play, Dennison fed Nsangou on the right block for a layup plus a foul to give Barry a three point tilt. Dennison went on to hit two clutch free-throws with 00:13 second to play to take the lead to five and ice the game.

The Buccaneer defense stood strong throughout the day, holding the #3 outside shooting teams in the country to a mere 33 percent mark from behind the arc. Conversely, Barry posted 50 percent (23-46) shooting from the field.

The combonation of Whitfield/Davis on Florida Southern's SSC Player of the Year John Thompson limited Thompson to only seven points. With 12:43 remaing in the game, Thompson's fouled Dennison while driving to the basket resulted in Thompson's fourth personal foul, limiting his playing time to a total of 24 minutes on the night.

The Bucs advance to the semifinal round where they will face SSC Tournament Champion Rollins. The Rollins Tars advanced with a 59-57 OT win against Alabama-Huntsville. The game is set to tip at 6:00 p.m. CST, 7:00 p.m. EST.